Mathematics in 2002 was marked by two discoveries in number theory. The first may have practical implications; the second satisfied a 150-year-old curiosity.

Computer scientist Manindra Agrawal of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, together with two of his students, Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena, found a surprisingly efficient algorithm that will always determine whether a positive integer is a prime number.

Since a prime is divisible only by 1 and itself, primality can, of course, be determined simply by dividing a candidate n in turn by successive primes 2, 3, 5, … up to √n (larger divisors would require a corresponding smaller divisor, which would already have been tested). As the size of a candidate increases, however—for example, contemporary cryptography utilizes numbers with hundreds of digits—such a brute-force method becomes impractical; the number of possible trial divisions increases exponentially with the number of digits in a candidate.

For centuries mathematicians sought a primality test that executes in polynomial time—that is, such that the maximum number of necessary operations is a power of the number of digits of the candidate. Several primality tests start from the “little theorem” discovered in 1640 by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat: “For every prime p and any smaller integer a, the quantity ap − 1 − 1 is divisible by p.” Hence, for a given number n, choose a and check whether the relation is satisfied. If not, then n is not prime (i.e., is composite). While passing this test is a necessary condition for primality, it is not sufficient; some composites (called pseudoprimes) pass the test for at least one a, and some (called Carmichael numbers, the smallest of which is 561) even pass the test for every a.

Two alternative approaches are conditional tests and probabilistic (or randomized) tests. Conditional tests require additional assumptions. In 1976 the American computer scientist Gary L. Miller obtained the first deterministic, polynomial-time algorithm by assuming the extended Riemann hypothesis about the distribution of primes. Later that year the Israeli computer scientist Michael O. Rabin modified this algorithm to obtain an unconditional, but randomized (rather than deterministic), polynomial-time test. Randomization refers to his method of randomly choosing a number a between 1 and n − 1 inclusive to test the primality of n. If n is composite, the probability that it passes is at most one-fourth. Tests with different values of a are independent, so the multiplication rule for probabilities applies (the product of the individual probabilities equals the overall probability). Hence, the test can be repeated until n fails a test or its probability of being composite is as small as desired.

Although such randomized tests suffice for practical purposes, Agrawal’s algorithm excited theoreticians by showing that a deterministic, unconditional primality test can run in polynomial time. In particular, it runs in time proportional to slightly more than the 12th power of the number of digits, or to the 6th power if a certain conjecture about the distribution of primes is true. While the new algorithm is slower than the best randomized tests, its existence may spur the discovery of faster deterministic algorithms.

While these primality tests can tell if an integer is composite, they often do not yield any factors. Still unknown—and a crucial question for cryptography—is whether a polynomial-time algorithm is possible for the companion problem of factoring integers.

Another famous problem in number theory, without far-reaching consequences, was apparently solved in 2002. The Belgian mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan conjectured in 1844 that the only solution to xm − yn = 1 in which x, y, m, and n are integers all greater than or equal to 2 is 32 − 23 = 1. In 1976 the Dutch mathematician Robert Tijdeman showed that there could not be an infinite number of solutions. Then in 1999 the French mathematician Maurice Mignotte showed that m < 7.15 × 1011 and n < 7.78 × 1016. This still left too many numbers to check, but in 2002 the Romanian mathematician Preda Mihailescu announced a proof that narrowed the possible candidates to certain numbers, known as double Wieferich primes, that are extremely rare.

Inorganic Chemistry

In 2002 two groups of U.S. researchers working together reported the serendipitous synthesis of compounds of uranium and the noble gases argon, krypton, and xenon. Despite more than 40 years of effort, chemists had been able to make only a handful of compounds from the noble gases. These gases are the six elements helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. All have an oxidation number of 0 and the maximum possible number of electrons in their outer shell (2 for helium, 8 for the others). Those traits are hallmarks of chemical stability, which means that the noble gases resist combining with other elements to form compounds. Indeed, until the 1960s chemists had regarded these elements as completely inert, incapable of forming the bonds that link atoms together to make compounds.

Lester Andrews and co-workers of the University of Virginia were studying reactions involving CUO, a molecule of carbon, uranium, and oxygen atoms bonded together in a linear fashion. In order to preserve the CUO, they protected it in frozen neon chilled to −270 °C (−450 °F). When they repeated the reactions by using argon as the protectant, however, the results were totally different, which suggested that new compounds had formed. Xenon and krypton also gave unanticipated results. Bruce Bursten and associates at Ohio State University then performed theoretical calculations on supercomputers to confirm the findings. Andrews and Bursten speculated that other metals also might bond to noble gases under the same ultracold conditions.

For nearly 200 years chemists had tried to decipher the structure of the complex molecules in the solutions called molybdenum blues. Scientists knew that the elements molybdenum and oxygen form large molecules that impart a blue colour to the solutions. The first of these so-called polyoxomolybdate (POM) molecules were identified in 1826. No one, however, had been able to explain the compounds’ molecular structure in solution. During the year Tianbo Liu, a physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., reported the presence of giant clusterlike structures in molybdenum blue solutions that resemble the surface of a blackberry. Unlike other water-soluble inorganic compounds, POM molecules apparently do not exist as single ions in solution; rather, they cluster together by the hundreds into bunches. Liu said the “blackberry” structures in molybdenum blue may represent a heretofore unobserved stable state for solute molecules.

Carbon Chemistry

Scientists continued their search for commercial and industrial applications of the tiny elongated molecular structures known as carbon nanotubes. Discovered in 1991, nanotubes consist of carbon atoms bonded together into graphitelike sheets that are rolled into tubes 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. Their potential applications range from tiny wires in a new generation of ultrasmall computer chips to biological probes small enough to be implanted into individual cells. Many of those uses, however, require attaching other molecules to nanotubes to make nanotube derivatives. In general, methods for making small amounts of derivatives for laboratory experimentation have required high temperatures and other extreme conditions that would be too expensive for industrial-scale production.

During the year chemists from Rice University, Houston, Texas, and associates from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, described groundbreaking work that could simplify the production of nanotube derivatives. Rice’s John Margrave, who led the team, reported that the key procedure involved fluorination of the nanotubes—i.e., attaching atoms of fluorine, the most chemically reactive element—an approach developed at Rice over the previous several years. Fluorination made it easier for nanotubes to undergo subsequent chemical reactions essential for developing commercial and industrial products. Among the derivatives reported by the researchers were hexyl, methoxy, and amido nanotubes; nanotube polymers similar to nylon; and hydrogen-bonded nylon analogs.

Organic Chemistry

Antiaromatic molecules are organic chemistry’s will-o’-the-wisps. Like aromatic molecules, they have atoms arranged in flat rings and joined by two different kinds of covalent bonds. Unlike aromatic molecules, however, they are highly unstable and reactive and do not remain long in existence. Chemistry textbooks have used the cyclopentadienyl cation—the pentagonal-ring hydrocarbon molecule C5H5 deficient one electron and thus having a positive charge—as the classic example of the antiaromatics’ disappearing act.

Joseph B. Lambert and graduate student Lijun Lin of Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., reported a discovery that may rewrite the textbooks. While trying to synthesize other organic cations (molecules with one or more positive charges), they produced a cyclopentadienyl analog in which methyl (CH3) groups replace the hydrogen atoms and found that it did not behave like the elusive entity of textbook fame. Rather, it remained stable for weeks in the solid state at room temperature. Lambert proposed that cyclopentadienyl be reclassified as a nonaromatic material.

Physical Chemistry

Gold has been treasured throughout history partly because of its great chemical stability. Resistant to attack by oxygen, which rusts or tarnishes other metals, gold remains bright and beautiful under ordinary environmental conditions for centuries. Gold, however, does oxidize, forming Au2O3, when exposed to environments containing a highly reactive form of oxygen—e.g., atomic oxygen or ozone. Hans-Gerd Boyen of the University of Ulm, Ger., led a German-Swiss team that announced the discovery of a more oxidation-resistant form of gold. The material, called Au55, consists of gold nanoparticles; each nanoparticle is a tiny cluster comprising exactly 55 gold atoms and measuring about 1.4 nm (nanometres). Boyen’s group reported that Au55 resisted corrosion under conditions that corroded bulk gold and gold nanoparticles consisting of either larger or smaller numbers of atoms. The researchers speculated that the chemical stability is conferred by special properties of the cluster’s 55-atom structure and that Au55 may be useful as a catalyst for reactions that convert carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide.

Incandescent tungsten-filament lightbulbs, the world’s main source of artificial light, are noted for inefficiency. About 95% of the electricity flowing through an incandescent bulb is transformed into unwanted heat rather than the desired entity, light. In some homes and large offices illuminated by many lights, the energy waste multiplies when additional electricity must be used for air conditioning to remove the unwanted heat from electric lighting.

Shawn Lin and Jim Fleming of Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., developed a microscopic tungsten structure that, if it could be incorporated into a filament, might improve a lightbulb’s efficiency. The new material consists of tungsten fabricated to have an artificial micrometre-scale crystalline pattern, called a photonic lattice, that traps infrared energy—radiant heat—emitted by the electrically excited tungsten atoms and converts it into frequencies of visible light, to which the lattice is transparent. The artificial lattice, in effect, repartitions the excitation energy between heat and visible light, favouring the latter. Lin and Fleming believed that the tungsten material could eventually raise the efficiency of incandescent bulbs to more than 60%.

Applied Chemistry

Zeolites are crystalline solid materials having a basic framework made typically from the elements silicon, aluminum, and oxygen. Their internal structure is riddled with microscopic interconnecting cavities that provide active sites for catalyzing desirable chemical reactions. Zeolites thus have become key industrial catalysts, selectively fostering reactions that otherwise would go slowly, especially in petroleum refining. About 40 zeolites occur naturally as minerals such as analcime, chabazite, and clinoptilolite. To date, chemists had synthesized more than 150 others, and they were on a constant quest to make better zeolites.

Avelino Corma and colleagues of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, and the Institute of Materials Science, Barcelona, reported synthesis of a new zeolite that allows molecules enhanced access to large internal cavities suitable for petroleum refining. Dubbed ITQ-21, it incorporates germanium atoms rather than aluminum atoms in its framework, and it possesses six “windows” that allow large molecules in crude oil to diffuse into the cavities to be broken down, or cracked, into smaller molecules. In contrast, the zeolite most widely used in petroleum refining has just four such windows, which limits its efficiency.

Chemists at Oregon State University reported an advance that could reduce the costs of making crystalline oxide films. The films are widely used in flat-panel displays, semiconductor chips, and many other electronic products. They can conduct electricity or act as insulators, and they have desirable optical properties.

To achieve the necessary crystallinity with current manufacturing processes, the films must be deposited under high-vacuum conditions and temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,800 °F). Creating those conditions requires sophisticated and expensive processing equipment. Douglas Keszler, who headed the research group, reported that the new process can deposit and crystallize oxide films of such elements as zinc, silicon, and manganese with simple water-based chemistry at atmospheric pressure and at temperatures of about 120 °C (250 °F). The method involved a slow dehydration of the materials that compose crystalline oxide films. In addition to reducing manufacturing costs, the process could allow the deposition of electronic thin films on new materials. Among them were plastics, which would melt at the high temperatures needed in conventional deposition and crystallization processes.

Physics

Particle Physics

In 2002 scientists took a step closer to explaining a major mystery—why the observed universe is made almost exclusively of matter rather than antimatter. The everyday world consists of atoms built up from a small number of stable elementary particles—protons, neutrons, and electrons. It has long been known that antiparticles also exist, with properties that are apparently identical mirror images of their “normal” matter counterparts—for example, the antiproton, which possesses a negative electric charge (rather than the positive charge of the proton). When matter and antimatter meet, as when a proton and an antiproton collide, both particles are annihilated. Antiparticles are very rare in nature. On Earth they can be produced only with great difficulty under high vacuum conditions, and, unless maintained in special magnetic traps, they survive for a very short time before colliding with normal matter.

If matter and antimatter are mirror images, why does the vast majority of the universe appear to be made up of normal matter? In other words, what asymmetry manifested itself during the big bang to produce a universe of matter rather than of antimatter? The simplest suggestion is that matter and antimatter particles are not completely symmetrical. During the year physicists working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California confirmed the existence of such an asymmetry, although their experiments raised other questions. The huge research team, comprising scientists from more than 70 institutions around the world, studied very short-lived particles known as B mesons and their antiparticles, which were produced in collisions between electrons and positrons (the antimatter counterpart of electrons). A new detector dubbed BaBar enabled them to measure tiny differences in the decay rates of B mesons and anti-B mesons, a manifestation of a phenomenon known as charge-parity (CP) violation. From these measurements they calculated a parameter called sin2β (sine two beta) to a precision of better than 10%, which confirmed the asymmetry. Although the BaBar results were consistent with the generally accepted standard model of fundamental particles and interactions, the size of the calculated asymmetry was not large enough to fit present cosmological models and account for the observed matter-antimatter imbalance in the universe. SLAC physicists planned to examine rare processes and more subtle effects, which they expected might give them further clues.

Researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., confirmed previous work showing a nagging discrepancy between the measured value and the theoretical prediction of the magnetic moment of particles known as muons, which are similar to electrons but heavier and unstable. The magnetic moment of a particle is a measure of its propensity to twist itself into alignment with an external magnetic field. The new value, measured to a precision of seven parts per million, remained inconsistent with values calculated by using the standard model and the results of experiments on other particles. It was unclear, however, whether the discrepancy was an experimental one or pointed to a flaw in the standard model.

Lasers and Light

One region of the electromagnetic spectrum that had been unavailable for exploitation until 2002 was the so-called terahertz (THz) region, between frequencies of 0.3 and 30 THz. (A terahertz is one trillion, or 1012, hertz.) This gap lay between the high end of the microwave region, where radiation could be produced by high-frequency transistors, and the far-infrared region, where radiation could be supplied by lasers. In 2002 Rüdeger Köhler, working with an Italian-British team at the nanoelectronics-nanotechnology research centre NEST-INFM, Pisa, Italy, succeeded in producing a semiconductor laser that bridged the gap, emitting intense coherent pulses at 4.4 THz. The device used a so-called superlattice, a stack of periodic layers of different semiconductor materials, and produced the radiation by a process of quantum cascade.

Claire Gmachl and co-workers of Lucent Technologies’ Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J., fabricated a similar multilayered configuration of materials to produce a semiconductor laser that emitted light continuously at wavelengths of six to eight micrometres, in the infrared region of the spectrum. Unlike typical semiconductor lasers, which give off coherent radiation of a single wavelength, the new device represented a true broadband laser system having many possible applications, including atmospheric pollution detectors and medical diagnostic tools. In principle, the same approach could be used to fabricate devices with different wavelength ranges or much narrower or wider ranges.

Condensed-Matter Physics

Since 1995, when it was first made in the laboratory, the state of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) has provided one of the most active fields of physical research. At first the mere production of such a state represented a triumph, garnering for the scientists who first achieved a BEC the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics. By 2002 detailed investigations of the properties of such states and specific uses for them were coming to the fore. Bose-Einstein condensation involves the cooling of gaseous atoms whose nuclei have zero or integral-number spin states (and therefore are classified as bosons) so near to a temperature of absolute zero that they “condense”—rather than existing as independent particles, they become one “superatom” described by a single set of quantum state functions. In such a state the atoms can flow without friction, making the condensate a superfluid.

During the year Markus Greiner and co-workers of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Ger., and Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Ger., demonstrated the dynamics of a BEC experimentally. To manipulate the condensate, they formed an “optical lattice,” using a number of crisscrossed laser beams; the result was a standing-wave light field having a regular three-dimensional pattern of energy maxima and minima. When the researchers caught and held the BEC in this lattice, its constituent atoms were described not by a single quantum state function but by a superposition of states. Over time, this superposition carried the atoms between coherent and incoherent states in the lattice, an oscillating pattern that could be observed and that provided a clear demonstration of basic quantum theory. The researchers also showed that, by increasing the intensity of the laser beams, the gas could be forced out of its superfluid phase into an insulating phase, a behaviour that suggested a possible switching device for future quantum computers.

BECs were also being used to produce atom lasers. In an optical laser the emitted light beam is coherent—the light is of a single frequency or colour, and all the components of the waves are in step with each other. In an atom laser the output is a beam of atoms that are in an analogous state of coherence, the condition that obtains in a BEC. The first atom beams could be achieved only by allowing bursts of atoms to escape from the trap of magnetic and optical fields that confined the BEC—the analogue of a pulsed laser. During the year Wolfgang Ketterle (one of the 2001 Nobel physics laureates) and co-workers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in producing a continuous source of coherent atoms for an atom laser. They employed a conceptually simple, though technically difficult, process of building up a BEC in a “production” trap and then moving it with the electric field of a focused laser beam into a second, “reservoir” trap while replenishing the first trap. The researchers likened the method to collecting drops of water in a bucket, from which the water could then be drawn in a steady stream. Making a hole in the bucket—i.e., allowing the BEC to flow as a beam from the reservoir—would produce a continuous atom laser. The work offered a foretaste of how the production, transfer, and manipulation of BECs could become an everyday technique in the laboratory.

Solid-State Physics

The study of systems containing only a few atoms not only gives new insights into the nature of matter but also points the way toward faster communications and computing devices. One approach has been the development and investigation of so-called quantum dots, tiny isolated clumps of semiconductor atoms with dimensions in the nanometre (billionth of a metre) range, sandwiched between nonconducting barrier layers. The small dimensions mean that charge carriers—electrons and holes (traveling electron vacancies)—in the dots are restricted to just a few energy states. Because of this, the dots can be thought of as artificial atoms, and they exhibit useful atomlike electronic and optical properties.

Toshimasa Fujisawa and co-workers of the NTT Basic Research Laboratories, Atsugi, Japan, studied electron transitions in such dots involving just one or two electrons (which acted as artificial atoms analogous to hydrogen and helium, respectively). Their encouraging results gave support to the idea of using spin-based electron states in quantum dots for storage of information. Other researchers continued to investigate the potential of employing coupled electron-hole pairs (known as excitons) in quantum dots for information storage. Artur Zrenner and co-workers at the Technical University of Munich, Ger., demonstrated the possibility of making such a device. Although technological problems remained to be solved, it appeared that quantum dots were among the most promising devices to serve as the basis of storage in future quantum computers.